PRESS CLUB NEWS
Press Club Brussels Europe elected to have the Presidency of the International Association of Press Clubs starting in 2018
by Maria Laura Franciosi
Maria Laura Franciosi is a freelance journalist and acts as a consultant for the training of journalists. She is the Founding President of the Press Club Brussels Europe. Since 1998 she has been a senior collaborator of the European Journalism Centre. She also coordinated the media programme of the European Citizens Consultations. As honorary president of J @ YS( Journalists at Your Service), she trains journalists and organises briefings and conferences. In the past, Maria Laura was a lecturer on Language and Politics at the London School of Economics( LSE) from 1967 to 1970 and at the University of Rome until 1977, after which she joined ANSA( the Italian News Agency) where she worked until 2001 in Rome, London and Brussels as bureau chief.
There was a great urry of activity at the Geneva Press Club in mid-May on the occasion of the annual General Assembly of the European Federation of Press Clubs which this year coincided with the general assembly of the International Association of Press Clubs. For the first time both associations gathered together under the presidency of Guy Mettan, Executive Director of the Geneva Press Club, and this gave all members present the opportunity to meet colleagues from all over the world and to decide on future strategies. Most of the main Press Clubs were represented at the meeting in Geneva. Together with Brussels, there were members from New York, Singapore, New Delhi, London, Paris, Milano, Jerusalem, Warsaw, Frankfurt, Geneva, Kigali, Minsk … There were apologies from Berlin, Vienna, Lisbon, Barcelona, Lyon, Prague, Tokyo,… An important outcome for the Press Club Brussels Europe was the decision taken by the members to award it the Presidency of the International Association of Press Clubs for the years 2018-2020.
The Press Club Brussels Europe was also put in charge of a new ambitious African project recently launched together with the ACP( African Caribbean Pacific) countries. The Kigali Press Club in Rwanda, whose representative Christine Haguma attended the Geneva meeting, asked to become a member of the European Federation. Its request was accepted by the members gathered in Geneva and Kigali is now a provisional member of the European Federation of Press Clubs. The project of creating an African Press Club Federation had been launched in Cotonou in 2014 on the occasion of a meeting organised by the ACP together with the Press Club Brussels Europe. The behind
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